Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
Select a thought to read by choosing a collection, the month, and then the day:
“For that day shall not come, except there be a great falling away first and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.”
2Thessalonians 2:3
According to the Scriptures, the only time in history that the saints of God in Christ will have no “spots or wrinkles” among them is just before the second coming of Jesus. The Lord himself indicated this in his explanation of the parable of the Tares and the Wheat:
As therefore the Tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend and those who do iniquity, and they shall cast them into a furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who has ears to hear, let him hear (Mt. 13:40-43).
My father-in-law once told me that if a piece of ground won’t grow weeds, it isn’t any good for a garden. God’s garden spot is His saints on earth, and it will certainly grow weeds. The tares in Jesus’ parable grew swiftly in the field where God had sown His seed. The revelation of Scripture is that God intended from the beginning for the ungodly to grow along with the godly in His garden and that He will make a permanent separation of them only as the end grows near.
On this undeniable basis alone - that there are still foolish children of God among the wise - we can say with absolute certainty that the coming of Jesus is not about to take place, as so many ministers teach. Jesus himself said that those among the saints who sin and are an offence to others shall be removed from his kingdom before he returns. A blind man could see that this cleansing of the saints has not yet taken place.
Jesus is not coming tonight or tomorrow night or even next year (this is 2005). There is very much that must happen before that wonderful day arrives, not the least of which is the purging of the saints on earth of all who are ungodly in their conduct and thoughts. This is one lesson that the parable of Tares and Wheat teaches plainly: as long as there are weeds still growing in God’s garden, the second coming of Jesus is not close at hand.